


Pride

by Xobit



Category: Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lions, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-16
Updated: 2013-01-16
Packaged: 2017-11-25 19:02:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/642012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xobit/pseuds/Xobit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Pride lord encounters something even will cannot stop...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pride

“Listen well, younglings!” Ironhide’s voice was, as always, a booming near roar thing. Optimus could not imagine him talking any differently though he knew he must… what mate would allow that kind of voice in the privacy of their shared dwelling? But then again, Ratchet always gave as good as he got and Wheeljack was such a softie… well.

“Listen!” Optimus ducked his sparsely maned helm, for sure enough the dark blue optics of the red cyberlion was trained right on him. And he should really be listening…

“All of you are resting on the cusp of adulthood, few spots remain on your armor… some of you may even gain new colors, partly or entirely, during the next six to eight groon. It is time for you to prove that the guidance of the Pride has made you self-sufficient! You will have to go into the wild and establish a small territory for yourself. You will defend it, you will gather and hunt for your own food… when you have lost the last spot you will be welcomed back,” the red cyberlion paced as he talked, the youngling cyberlions listening avidly though they knew it all by spark already. This was what their Creators had prepared them for all their lives, this was what the Pride itself had guided them towards, this was the last thing left of ‘sparklinghood’.

“If you do not return within ten groons you will be thought of as lost, or worse and the Pride will grieve for you,” Ironhide paused, looking at them with a dark glower, “it is not a warning to take lightly, so beware of how far you roam, now go… go and say your goodbyes and visit the temple if you so wish!”

Optimus withdrew with the rest of the young cyberlions, paying a visit to his Creators, Orion Pax and Dion, before visiting the temple one last time for luck. All that over and done with he collected the small pile of supplies he was allowed and set off towards the setting sun.

Soon he was out of the Pride lands he had known all his life, for a little while he veered off to follow the boarder, reluctant to leave behind the comforting occasional whiff of scent from the boarder markings. Eventually though he broke off and settled into a long stride, again facing the horizon that was slowly swallowing Hadeen.

He continued so for most of the night, holding only a small break for rest and hunting now and again. For a full half groon he had to travel, as long as there was prey about he would not use the spares supplies he had been given at departure.

When sun rise came he was already recharging under one of the old crystal tree giants that were found sparsely all over the great savanna. When noon came he was up again, tirelessly loping away from his home and towards uncertainty.

So was his orn counted for half a groon.

He kept careful time, and carefully charted his course by the stars in the sky, knowing that he would need to return home soon enough. The ten groon law was nothing to be trifled with after all.

About ten orn from the place he had stopped to make his, he had veered off his long held course towards the setting sun to run parallel to another Pride’s boarder, carefully making sure to leave their lands before choosing his new place of residence.

It was a modest enough territory; he did not need much and had little ambition of ascending to be a leader though he was oft told he had the skill. It was simply not a job that appealed to him, nay he wanted a simple life… a mate and cubs and that was all.

The small pond was filled by a spring, it was not energon but water, a small beach of fine sand on one side and a gentle curved hill overgrown with brush crystal ,and the occasional slender infant version of the giant crystal trees of the savanna he had used for shelter so often during his travel, near circled the rest of it.

It was a beautiful, lush and protected spot in the middle of the high Hadeen season when the rest of the savanna seemed washed of colors and near devoid of life. Of course there were plenty of other such water springs, and, if his mentors were to be believed, seven great rivers. And there were energon springs… those where what life revolved around.

Any Pride territory contained at least one, though no one drank from it unless there was no other way to get food. They were holy places, the temples of Primus the barer of Hadeen and of Unicron the one that took the permanently offline to the Pit, or the Well of All Sparks.

But he was content with his little sheltered spring fed pond, wishing almost that it was on his own Pride’s land so that he might have his permanent home here. But that was of course a mere fancy of youth.  
He thought himself safe…

* * *

“Hmm,” Megatron rumbled with displeasure, padding along the place where his boarder markings had been washed away by the spring rains. It was no great concern but it annoyed him, instead of just refreshing the old marks he had to remark everything for the next several miles.

Other of his Pride could be set to do it but he needed a break from it all. With the Pride young sent off to their test the older members were quite… amorous. He did not feel like siring cubs on someone this season, while young Galvatron had fallen well after him he had no wish to couple with Starscream again.

In fact there was no one in his Pride he had any taste for. Ah well, he was a virile cyberlion not yet anywhere near the decline of his long life. He had time a plenty to chose a mate and sire spark cubs on him too.

Choosing a likely looking place he sniffed around until he found a protected place to leave a scent mark. Once done he trotted onwards to the next place.

Not too long after the third new mark he caught an unknown scent. Clearly another cyberlion, tantalizing, sweet even, but… unfinished, young and not of his Pride. Growling in true displeasure, even anger, he turned into his Pride’s territory, determined to get the intruder out.

And here he had thought that a washed away border would be little trouble!

\---

To be fair the stranger had not intruded far into their lands. But Megatron had to admit that he was not in the mood to be fair, not at all. The scent was teasing him… promising so much as yet still reminding him that it belonged to a young cyberlion. Unripe for what the rest of the scent promised so very readily.

A youngling on the cusp of adulthood, so near to the peak.

By the time he found the place the other cyberlion dwelled he was firmly caught between rage and arousal, greatly disturbed by both feelings. He had not even set optic on the youngling yet!

But the sent teased him, promised him far more than he could get. That enraged him more than the intrusion, which could be excused from the faulty border markings. But the teasing… unintentional too, but still… still…

He did not barge in to the small oasis though, slowing unwillingly to creep over the crest of the hill surrounding most of the little central pond.

There! The intru~

Everything stalled at the sight before him.

* * *

Optimus’ first real hunt had gone better than he had dared hope, sure the Creature was old and tough but it was still good to eat, and large! He would be able to save some of it for times of bad hunting, a more potent omen for his time here could not have been found in the positive end of the spectra.

Now however he was sticky from butchering and had no one to help him clean off. He thought longingly of his Pride, of his Creators grooming him and huffed heavily. There would be no more of that when he returned home, he might find a grooming partner among the other unmated young cyberlions but that would be an endeavor fraught with pitfalls.

Settling on the sand before the pond he licked his hands and arms clean, as well as he could, before shifting to kneel in the low water of the small beach. Washing himself with handfuls of sand and water he felt the stickiness leave his plating and fur.

He was paying little attention to anything but getting clean and so heard the one approaching too late. A hand gasped the braids of his sparse mane, pulling his helmet back and upwards. Hot venting against his audio receptor told him that whoever it was, was excited… or very angry. Optimus swallowed a whimper, he could try to fight. But wait for it… just wait.

“You take what is mine?” the voice was low, hoarse, but devoid of feeling. He could not hear anger in it, nor lust. Only the hot venting were any clue to the state of the mech holding him captured.

“I did not know it was yours, this place carried no scent markings,” Optimus held to the truth, keeping his answer simple, his voice soft and submissive.

“The markers were washed away, cub, I discovered your intrusion when I renewed them,” the unspoken ‘and I don’t care that you could not know’ was loud in Optimus’ audio shell. He could not help but tense, claws sliding out of his finger tips as he got ready to fight.

“Oh no! I do not think so, _cub_ ,” the term came out in an almost derogatory manner but he had little time to think on that as his left arm was caught and twisted behind his back, his chassis yanked backwards against a large hot frame and a big black hand, claws out, rose into his line of vision.

“We can’t have you fighting, can we?,” he yelped when his audio shell was nibbled, just on the verge of being too painful to be a play nip, “I will grant you that you could not know you were in my territory, and you are a cub… for a few groon yet,” he shivered at the tone, there was something… something…

“I am here for my trial, my lord?” the questioning note was faint, his captor was implying being the pride leader, he certainly had the size for it, but he might not be. Still he did not want to risk offending with those big and shape claws so close to his neck lines.

“’my lord’? Polite of you, and true, on these lands I am your lord and master, little cub. But soon you won’t be a cub anymore,” he yelped and jerked hard when the larger cyberlion buried his faceplates against his neck. Only the feel of dental fangs kept him from attempting to flee. Shivering all over he kept as still as he could.

“Such an intoxicating scent, such promises for the future…” the murmur was detached, as if the other cyberlion was not aware he was speaking out loud. Or he was and wanted to cause Optimus as much discomfort as he could.

“Please, my lord, I beg forgiveness for my trespassing, I will go the moment you but let me,” he tried and could not help a small whimper when laughter greeted the offer.

And what a laughter! Still hoarse and low but so deep it seemed to make his very back struts shiver in resonance. Optimus did not know it but that was a start to the emotions he would soon be old enough to feel.

“So you will go? I think not! All that walk these lands are mine to do with as I please,” a deep intake of air, and the raspy feel of a hot glossa on his neck cables made him jump, “and it pleases me to count you as one. You will be one!”

“Of what d~” his words were strangled in a frightened gasp when he felt something slid in between his legs. Hot, hard… smooth… big…

“What are you doing?” his frightened gasp and less than formal speech was greeted with another low laugh. And with movement.

Thank Primus that it was over fast!

He was pushed onto all fours only half a breem after the beginning of it and the larger cyberlion roared as hot fluids splattered over his aft and back plating. He tried to scramble away but slipped on the sandy bottom and was grabbed before he managed to stabilize himself for another attempt. A big hand smoothed up his back plating smearing the cooling fluids and spreading them over plates, fur and into seams.

“My scent, little cub! Do not try and escape me, I will hunt down what is mine…” he was finally let go and by the pede steps the other was walking away. He could not even manage to turn and look at the stranger… the Pride lord. He knew the scent, faded as it had been on the territorial boarder.

What had he managed to get himself into?

* * *

What had he done?

What was he going to do…

Megatron knew well that this would be happening again, the only way to stop it would be staying away. Something he could not do.

He had scared the poor youngling half to death! But he had found it impossible to control himself when his olfactory sensor was full of that intoxicatingly innocent scent. He had spoken only the truth, for it held the promise of a fertile, passionate mate. A young, strong and virile cyberlion to be.

And he wanted him for his Pride. It had been vorn since he had last wanted someone this badly, if he ever had. He had bested every cyberlion in his large pride. He had taken the land for his as far as he could see and way beyond that.

He had even sired cubs aplenty, Galvatron being the newest one from just last season. But not one spark cub had fallen from his line. There had been no cyberlion to tempt him into that, as yet…

Or maybe it was ‘till now’?

Megatron growled, displeased with the guilt and the uncertainty both. Instinct could be such a fragging nuisance! No matter how you put it he could not mate the little cub, he was not at all old enough to make such a choice yet. Not for a vorn or more. But waiting…

Waiting.

And yet he had no other choice and he knew he would be keeping him here as long as he could. But maybe, maybe he could manage to be a little bit more civilized the next time he went to him?

\---

That was truly the giant Pride lord’s intention, but it was rare that the intention managed to become reality.

Not for lack of trying though, but the cub only became more alluring as his last growth spurt changed him. From small, gangly long limbed and with barely any mane to speak of, he grew into wide shoulders, narrow hips and a full bushy mane that he kept braiding in the oddest of ways.

At first he had been pretty, but oh so young… almost too cute to find sexy. But now? Megatron sat down, watching the smaller cyberlion hunt in secondary mode, a heavy huff leaving his vents.

Oh yes, now. Now he was any adult cyberlion’s wet dream, moving with grace and great speed. Agile and happy… except when he saw his tormentor. And Megatron knew very well that he had become that and yet he could not stop himself.

The thought of never again feeling the silky smooth thighs, hear the little bitten off whimpers… or indeed smell the arousal the young cyberlion had begun feeling at his touch? No, no! He could not accept that thought at all!

* * *

He was as regular as Hadeen rising. Pride lord… his nightmare and his dream mate all in one. It would not have been so bad had he known more of him, or maybe it would have been worse. Optimus would be the first to tell anyone that he did not, and indeed could not, know. He had never been given the chance to understand, to even ask!

And there was shame, oh was there ever shame! To have accepted this with little to no protest, to be used and owned…

No Optimus made no illusions for himself, he was not that stupid. Whatever agenda the big cyberlion had with him it was more of the need to find relief from something than it was actual interest. How could it be anything even remotely like interest when the mech simply rutted on him! Used him as some sort of… of toy.

When he was nothing but a youngling near losing his last cubhood spots?

Any young cyberlion dreamed of finding a worthy mate, and what mate could be more worthy than one of the few able to lift the responsibility for a whole Pride and the lands it claimed? He was no different from the rest of them, though his silly dreams had featured Ultra Magnus until now…

And they certainly had never featured… interfacing. Well, rutting anyway. He was too young for any of that!

H-had been too young.

All that was supposed to be something he was taught when he had proven he could hunt well enough to keep himself alive. When he had lost his spots he was supposed to go home and be told of how to handle his… well, all that came with being fully adult and mature. Of course most, if not all, of the older cubs already knew about interfacing, and he was no exception. But feeling it was something entirely different!

And he felt it, and it got worse with every visit from the Pride Lord. With those feelings the guilt grew and his despair got deeper. Would a little over a groons travel be enough to remove the Pride lord’s scent from him? Or would he be barred from his own pride because of this?

Did he even deserve to return…

The stranger Pride lord had not helped him in any manner. He had done his own hunting, protected himself against the few large predators that could threaten a cyberlion… the very few that dared the Pride lord’s markings. But he might just as well have settled on land that they did not favor.

The letter of the law. 

Or the spirit of it…

Was he violating the spirit of it?

Carrying his prey to ‘his’ temporary home he looked about, nerves very much on the outside of his armor. This was the orn he was expecting a visit from the Pride lord, he did not like to be caught unaware. At least when he saw him coming he had time to, to prepare, to get into position as it were.

For fighting was useless. He doubted he would ever be able to best the other, maybe give him a good fight… in a couple of hundred vorn. But never best him. He was far bigger and even more powerful than Ultra Magnus.

The worst part though… he enjoyed it. The attention, even this little bit, from a Pride lord? He lapped it up as he had his one small taste of pure spring born energon. Underneath the shame, the anger, the fear and the doubt he reveled in every harsh touch. Every ‘mine’ spoken in that deep, dangerous voice…

* * *

He waited. Watched as the young cyberlion, no longer a cub but for a few spots on his upper chest plates… spots that would be gone with his next shedding, as he ate. Like always he knew, he could see it, see the nervous glances around, the tenseness of the sleek well formed feline body.

Megatron purred, the olfactory vent in his upper jaw wide open to the breeze that carried the young cyberlion’s scent to him. Such a complex scent it was too, _fear/guilt/ **lust** /terror/anticipation/ **lust** /want/_.

Enough to make any cyberlion hot and bothered.

And more than a little guilty himself.

This would be the last time, he did not want it to be so but there was no doubt that the cub who had come here five groon ago was an adult mech now. Soon to return to his own Pride…

He should let him be, let him have his last orns undisturbed. Yes, but he knew, as well as the young cyberlion seemed to know it, that there would be no holding back this time either.

Letting him return to his Pride… if he had been able to justify it he would have prevented that. But he could not, there were no precedence. No rules to cover this coveting he felt, this need to have and keep.

He rose, transforming easily, optics locked on the young cyberlion who had done much the same. He watched as he uneasily went to wash off the energon and fluids of his prey and then he struck.

* * *

“Ah!” the sharp sound was not one of surprise, more like… release. Release from tension, from waiting, from not knowing. As always he was not allowed to see, as always not a word was spoken. Hot air was vented against his chassis, and a powerful intake worked hard by his left audio shell.

But something was different.

Optimus did not find himself pushed to the ground or against whatever was nearest. Instead large clawed hands held his wrists, near swallowing them, keeping him in place against the hot chassis plastered to his back. The difference in temperature was quick to even out.

“So responsive…” he shivered and arched into the slow roll of the other’s hips. Teasing? That did not make sense but it seemed to be true.

“Mine for just a short time, but that is the way of it, is it not?” Optimus whined, his audio shells going flat when he felt the thick, hot solidity of a spike slid between his thighs.

Against his panel.

“…” he did not catch the mumble, the Pride lord had buried his dermas in his mane, kissing? Yes, kissing his mane and helmet… down to his neck. The graze of sharp fangs on his neck cable made him lean his helmet to the side, expose himself.

His cooling fans were struggling worse than they ever had on a hunt and that strange wetness was growing between his legs again. Along with the ache of emptiness that he did not want to feel. Optimus whined again, hands clenching and unclenching, but not truly fighting the grip the other had on him.

* * *

_Click_

Megatron could not hold himself from growling at the slight noise, or the small whimper that followed it not a second behind. He might not be able to win rights for those seals he so desperately wanted to take but at least he had had one! And feeling the hot lubricant seep out of the virgin valve…

The young cyberlion wanted him, wanted this, oh so desperately. Maybe it was just his chassis, but Megatron chose to believe that there was some conscious desire of him as well. Chose to ignore that he had been and still were acting like a monster. For he could not forget it, if he forgot he might claim what he had no right to claim.

“Like liquid silk, so hot…” his murmurs were low, most likely lost in the small bites and kisses he placed on the slim neck, the mane and helmet. It did not matter, they would mean little to the young cyberlion.

Angling his hips he felt his spike bump against the other’s valve rim. It was truly self torture but he wanted to give the young one this one thing to remember him by. If there could be anything positive in his doings it had to be giving true pleasure.

The trembling of the smaller cyberlion told him that he was achieving his goal and he kept a tight hold of his own pleasure. Not until he heard a broken cry did he allow himself to overload. And this time he did not pull away to mark with his scent. That would be cruel beyond measure.

* * *

It was blinding, satisfying and exhausting. It seemed to ravage his chassis like a living thing, taking him from reality for a few moments. And when he was returned he found himself collapsed, the only reason he was not sprawled ungainly on the ground that the Pride lord had carried him down to sit on it instead.  
“…” usually the larger cyberlion would have left by now, and Optimus did not know what to do now.

Other than stare.

This was the first time he had gotten a good look at his assailant. Frankly he was stunning… the power he excluded aside he was, he was magnificent. Big and colored in dark grays, black and red, on his arms and shoulders and chest the symbols of his rank were painted in black and red. Inlay etchings decorated his forearms, gold inlays. He wore more jewelry than Optimus’ whole Pride owned!

A truly powerful Pride lord… Optimus bowed his helmet, swallowing nervously. Lifting one arm he hid his chest plates as best he could, hand clutching at his other arm. Of course it was much too late to be shy and demure but what else could he do in the face of this?

“You are free to leave; you have paid your due for trespassing…” the words made his spark contract painfully, but of course he had known all along… This had been a punishment, a way for the Pride lord to establish dominance. For all he knew he had been used as an example for others to see, or at least scent.

That did not make him feel any better about it.

“Yes, Pride lord,” he winched at the waver in his voice, hoping the other would not think him weak for it. It nearly made him snort derisively at himself, as if the other cyberlion did not already see him as weak!

“You have ten orn to leave,” for a moment it seemed like the other wanted to say something more but then he heard the sounds of transforming and, when he chanced looking up, he saw the secondary mode of the Pride lord bound away. He swallowed convulsively again… just as magnificent as his primary mode…

\----

Optimus only stayed for two orn, even if his molding did not take away his last spots he needed to get away. He did not know what might happen if he stayed past his welcome but he did not dare find out. There had been such finality in Pride lord’s voice as he stated the deadline.

And he wanted to go home. He wanted his Creators and his friends, his own pride around him! He wanted his shame erased, or at least eased.

It was a grueling groon of travel. Dreams plaguing him, dreams that were not truly nightmares but might as well have been as he could never have what they depicted. Hunts failing because he could not concentrate. Fear that maybe his last mold would not take his spots and he would have to stay away. Fear that he would be tempted to return…

He was tempted! He was… and it was so wrong.

But then his fur finally started to shed and he found that he was without spots. He returned to his Pride to cry out his confusion and fear on his Carrier’s shoulder. Dion and Orion Pax brought him to Alpha Trion, the priest, who, after hearing the entire story, declared that he had passed his rite of passage and then performed a ceremony to rid him of the ‘touch of the stranger’.

Optimus was warned that if there was a connection between them the ceremony would not remove the connection but it would allow him to live without feeling it so much. He took the chance… and found that he could function again, without disturbing dreams of impossibilities.

And if he found himself often hunting in the south part of the Pride territory? That did not mean anything… just like his penchant for sitting staring vacantly towards the southern hills of the savannah meant nothing.

His Creators, and indeed soon enough, most of the rest of the Pride, were well aware of this however and they did not take it quite as lightly as he. Alpha Trion would shake his grizzled mane and go to talk with their own Pride lord, but there was little they could do.

As long as Optimus did not acknowledge the connection himself he would not be able to be a part of the Pride. He could not mate anyone, nor could he truly feel anything for anyone. But getting him to admit that there was something there? Even his Carrier was unable to do so…

The groon dragged on, and another, and then another… soon enough a whole vorn had gone by.

* * *

When he returned the young cyberlion had left. There were still a few orn left of the deadline, and the scent left were orn old. He had left soon after their last encounter.

Megatron returned to his Pride in a worse mood than he had left, lashing out verbally at anyone that dared talk to him. Even those that had good reason to do so.

It was not a very good thing for the Pride lord to be in such a snit that it affected his leadership abilities. And he had known… that was why he had given the young cyberlion the ultimatum.

If he had not left he would have claimed him, no matter his youth.

Now he would have to figure out how to move on without him.

And did that not sound theatrical? He had not ever actually _had_ him after all!

Megatron was well aware that his mood did not improve but he knew how to deal with such. Channel it into expanding his Pride’s territory. And if he did that towards the north? Yes, he had followed the scent trail of his fleeing almost lover… and yes, he was hunting him.

Slowly, slowly hunting him down.

The members of his Pride dealt with his moods as they usually did. Starscream threw a fit about him choosing to expand the territory in the mating season. And later he threw a fit over it continuing during sparking season.

Hook, their medicine mech, cautioned him to do his expansion slow so the Pride could cope. Scavenger, the priest, spent a long time hounding him till he agreed to a ritual cleansing. And when it proved to do little but focus his will further the priest shrugged and declared it the will of the gods.

Moving the border was not the toughest of jobs. Only on occasion would they have to fight when a single cyberlion was in the way. Prides were rare and had big territories, usually far from each other. Megatron had no real reason to want more territory, no reason past being unable to tear off in search of a too young cyberlion. This was a way to pass time, to fool his needs. He was not foolish enough to believe that the young cyberlion had, willing or not, shown him the true direction of his home.

But he could hope.

Even if it would mean a clash of Prides if the young cyberlion did not return to him of his own violation. It did not seem that would happen as the groon dragged on and eventually became a vorn…

* * *

Heat season came and went, mating season for those that had a mate. Optimus felt no need to mate, though heat ravaged his chassis as it did all the newly adult cyberlions.

It was the second time since he had left the place of his test. The first time they had all been told to stay away from each other and the Pride at large. Too young yet to choose to mate, for one time or a life time.

This time they joined the other unmated cyberlions, flirting and fighting, courting. He felt utterly uninterested in it, even when Ultra Magnus walked through the assembled cyberlions, the Pride lord’s own heat spicing his scent.

He did not even notice the great old cyberlion pause, braided white mane shaken once when the dark blue gaze landed on Optimus. He simply lay there, cooling fans laboring, chassis burning and thoughts struggling not to conjure up memories that would make the heat twice more difficult…

The blue and white cyberlion hesitated for a long moment but then continued on. One could not change what had already happened by wish alone.

\----

Heat season ran its course, a few cyberlions grew heavy with cubs as slowly as the season turned from spring to summer and then towards fall. Optimus second vorn as an adult mech was passing as desolately as his first…

Perversely he was a happy one mech, his friends were still his friends. His family more than willing to welcome him home when he felt like visiting. A new little cub growing in Dion’s reproduction chamber, a brother.

But though his happiness he felt the pull of another world, another time. No matter how often he returned to the temple and its energon spring for cleansing and meditation it never stopped, never wavered.  
And he never gave in to it.

He refused to leave what he knew behind for what was unknown. Because he thought he knew, he did not believe it to be unknown. What could a powerful Pride lord see in him?

* * *

The first clash happened outside the new Pride’s borders. A young silver cyberlion had been hunting and Astrotrain had given him a good scare. Megatron sent out scouts the very next orn, to gouge the size of the foreign Pride and the territory they held. There was nothing to do about the warning they had gotten, there had been no reason for Astrotrain to kill a perfectly healthy unmated young cyberlion…

There was really no reason to challenge the other Pride. No reason at all… save that it could be _his_ Pride and that he could still be unclaimed.

So Megatron would challenge them, he knew that even before the scouts returned, telling him that the Pride was only a third the size of their own, that the territory was not even a tenth of what he held.

But of course, he held too much territory, he knew it… and knew that the moment he had found what he searched for he would no longer crave to hold it. It was his luck that Starscream was back at their own temple, heavy with a cub by some, smugly, unnamed cyberlion. Only to the good that he would not have to hear him complain about this useless exercise… all the more annoying for being true.

* * *

The Pride was in an uproar and even Optimus could not stay apathetic in the face of the immanent intrusion of another Pride.

As the cyberlions rallied he shook himself out of his inactive state and joined in. slowly the Pride gathered and traveled towards the threatened border. It was expected that they would run into the enemy before they got there.

However that was not the case.

The invading Pride was waiting at the border… and their numbers were dissparkening.

Optimus was with the rest of the younger cyberlions to one side and he could not see who it was that stepped from the enemy ranks to speak to their own Pride lord, Ultra Magnus. A dark color with what looked like gold and red slashes, a lot bigger than the creamy white and blue Pride lord though. Massive…

He felt his spark skip a pulse and had to force himself not to flinch. No way in the Pit!

* * *

The braids… he recognized the style immediately even on this strange Pride Lord and the cyberlions flanking him on both sides. They were for the most part smaller than his own Pride’s members, but several of them bore scars. A small Pride but a strong one, they would do damage if he allowed this to become a fight.

However…

“Pride Lord,” he locked optics with the speaker, an old cyberlion… a wise one. Creamy white and dark blue with piercing blue optics. “You are on our territory, what is your intentions?” so very formal.

“I am here to… reclaim someone lost to me, and, if you will it, to tie our prides together by bonds,” Megatron shook his mane, a lazy drawl infecting his tone. They had not crossed the border, that was their luck.

To his credit the other Pride Lord merely sat down, not asking any questions about who he wished to reclaim or why yet.

“Why do you wish a bond between us?” that however was a _good_ question!

“No Pride can remain strong without new… partners,” he carefully chose a word that implied choice. They both knew that such as this would be about who was attracted to whom and that choice was subjective. There might be none, there might be many…

Half would stay and half would go. A chance, a lottery, much could be won and much lost. It was worse for the smaller Pride of course but…

“That is true… very well, but come first and tell me who it is you wish to reclaim,” it was not an invite, and this was still the smaller Pride’s lands so Megatron obeyed.

“I tracked his scent over the plains that separate our Prides,” the old Pride lord opticed him somewhat coolly, setting his defense protocols seething as he restrained them.

“And why do you want this one, this stranger of _my_ Pride?” the emphasis on ‘my’ was subtle but unmistakable. Tread lightly. Megatron held in the growl building in his vocalizer, had the little one told of what had happened between them? Of what had not…

“He carries the scent of a Pride Lord’s mate, but he was far too young when we met,” he rumbled, “and I could have handled our meeting better than I did… it was the first time I had ever scented that particular a…” he stopped at the sound of a guffawed from the older cyberlion.

“There is no such thing as a ‘Pride Lord’s mate’, there is such a thing as a ‘destined mate’ though. Perhaps that might be what you scented?” the question was stated mildly, but he could still read the amusement. “There are many worthy among the unbonded of my Pride, I ask you and your Pride to choose with care among them though. A vorn to woo and win, and I can trust you will not take them by force?” the worry was a real one, there had been greedy Pride Lords in the past…

“My way here has been paved with longing, I will return to my original lands when I have what I came for,” the rest was answered with a hard, angry glare. He had control of his Pride, no cyberlion would ever be forced while he was the ruler of his lands.

‘ _Except the mech you have already forced?_ ’ He pushed the question away…

“Pride can be the downfall of any cyberlion, but very well, I will agree to this. We might otherwise destroy each other. Let me call the Pride together,” Ultra Magnus turned, padding back towards his Pride, Megatron settled on his hunches, watching him for a long breem. Then he too rose and trotted back, ordering the bonded couples and loners, if their significant others were back at the Pride temple, to step back.

Old and young unbonded stood their ground as he explained the tradition to those that did not know, refreshing the memory of all others.

The line that formed among the other pride's cyberlion was not a long one, perhaps twenty individuals, but they were all healthy strong looking cyberlions and he spotted the one he had been hunting for immediately. Even in cyberlion form there was no way he would not recognize him.

His stance was not relaxed nor eager, there was a tension in him not found in any of the others. 

Megatron resigned himself to a slow courtship, wishing that heat was not so far away. But he had a vorn, he would win the little cyberlion over somehow...

To his surprise the old Pride lord took up his own place in the line before nodding regally. Ten of them would be going back with Megatron, ten of his would stay.

He wasted little time on nodding back and walking over to the young cyberlion he had chased over a vorn and more of travel. The scent filled his olfactory sensors and he could not help opening his mouth to let more of it roll over his specialized scent sensors. It was as sweet a thing as the pure energon of one of the gods' springs.

"I have come to reclaim you."

* * *

"Reclaim me?" Optimus did not know how to respond to that. He had been sent away, thrown out of the other cyberlion's territory. If he had wanted him why had he not kept him?

"Reclaim you, you did not return to me," the larger cyberlion, in alt mode like himself, rubbed his large maned head along Optimus' shoulders. He stood stiffly, allowing the touch. Even if it had been entirely against his wishes he would not have known how to repel a Pride Lord without severe repercussions, for him and his pride.

"I did not know I was allowed to return," he was still confused about all that had happened. But his spark was not aching anymore. For the first time during the past almost two vorn he felt... empty but not painfully so.

"I could not demand that you do after what I had put you though, my lovely, but I had hoped the call in you were as strong as it was in me," a rough glossa licked between his audio shells, though the gesture was similar this felt nothing like when his carriers would clean him. The rough licking continued and he finally relaxed, unable to keep up the tension when there was no attack.

"And I was too young to mate?" the question was tentative, a little curious.

"Much too young, and I knew how impossible it would have been to deny myself when it came to you," the rumble was decidedly wicked, having dropped into something that could easily be called a growl. Optimus shivered but kept the need to purr and lie down reigned in.

"I don't know if I can... trust you," except that was not quite true, the Pride Lord had never lied to him. He had just been... Forceful and scary. _Powerful and assertive_ , his subconscious mind supplied. His chassis knew what it wanted, even now out of heat... It had none of the fear or his conflicting thoughts and desires to bother it.

"I will have a vorn to convince you that I can be trusted, is that not time enough?" Optimus had little choice in it, as little as before but he did not think he would have refused the Pride Lord even if he had had one.

"Let us hope it will be enough time," for he was not going to promise anything!

* * *

They traded twins for twins, so eleven stayed and eleven went. Megatron lost Runamok and Runabout, Oil Slick, Needlenose, Lugnut, Octane, Missfire, Fulcrum, Roadrage, Groundhog and Aquablast. And gained Optimus, Blurr, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, Ratchet, Cosmos, Seaspray, Blaster, Drift, Skyfire and Metroplex.

Some he already knew would not be staying, the twins and the older medic... too wrapped up in each other to give outsider courting a true chance.

That was how it was, and he would wager that without the prompting of this uncommon courting it would have taken the three much longer to recognize that they had a connection.

All well and good indeed, sadly he was having very little luck with his own courting. Optimus was rightly entitled to some form of vengeance and reparations but he was being... unreasonable? No, but certainly he did little to make it easy for Megatron to so much as approach him.

Up to an including pointedly moving back to the little oasis as soon as they returned to his Pride’s core territory.

Megatron had only barely managed not to throw a fit over it. However he understood why. The reminder was the very best shield the young one could have. His happiness was relative though, in this he had to be concerned with his potential mate’s happiness.

Which was none existent at the moment, judging by the stiff movements of the cyberlion lying in the shade of the small crescent hill and its brush. Of cause the young one had seen him, he had made no secret of his approach with his latest courting gift. He dropped the wirepheasant a few paces from the resting cyberlion, retreating from it to a respectful distance of watching and easy conversation.

“I have brought you another gift,” he spoke evenly, attempting to keep his quiet panting hidden. The scent of the other cyberlion was addictive, and he found that as he could have nothing else from him he needed this tiny bit more and more.

“I hunted for myself,” he huffed tiredly at the disgruntled snap. He knew for a fact that the younger cyberlion had not caught prey this orn or the last. It would not kill him not to refuel but the less you had in your tank the harder hunting would be. He did not want the other to take his gifts because he needed them to live... this was courting, not pity fuel.

“There is no harm in accepting an extra morsel,” and a single wirepheasent, while a delicacy it was not easy to catch, was hardly more than a boost of needed energy. He was careful in choosing only things that would show his skills but not insult his ‘target’s’ own abilities to feed himself.

Optimus was giving him few hints on how well he succeeded.

“Except it is coming from you,” audio shells going flat Megatron reined himself in before he growled and showed fangs. The resentment was well earned, but he had explained! What more would he have to do... explanations and apologies had done nothing.

“Optimus,” he huffed and lashed his own tail agitatedly, “you followed me here, willing to give me a chance, what is it I have failed to do for you?” he would like to know, as he had done his utmost to be the perfect suitor.

“I don’t know,” the smaller cyberlion looked away, the defensive tension draining a little, leaving behind the same confusion that Megatron had seen when they met at the other’s Pride’ territory.

He dared approach again, passing the forgotten prey to stand by the other and lowered his head to lick at a flat audio shell. When the move was not instantly rebuffed he sat down, picking up on a slow, innocent grooming rhythm.

"I should have simply warned you off my lands," his murmured words were heavy, regret and longing coloring them.

"I am terrified of you," it was the first time Optimus had answered with, offered an, explanation. It made his audio shells flatten with shame. Fear was the very last thing he wanted. But he did understand, it was his own fault. You reaped what you sowed.

"There is no need to, I will not hurt you again... I was not thinking clearly when we first met. If you want me to I am willing to take any punishment you wish on me," he had offered before without any answer but maybe this time? Optimus was talking to him, after all.

"I would not know how to punish you. And I don't know if it is needed, you could have done so much worse," he flinched a little hearing that, knowing well how close he had been to do that 'worse’, and how close he was now to just take. No, he was not pure sparked...

"Optimus---" "No! You did not do worse, but it was bad enough, and I longed for you... It made everything worse..." Optimus sounded frustrated, and angry. Megatron could understand both feelings, but could do little about either one, other than what he was doing already. He had committed himself to the courtship and to atoning for his wrongdoings. 

“Tell me what I must do! I need you...” he trailed off, not sure how to elaborate without mentioning the physical part that would be needed, the very big part of his hopes and dreams that involved cubs. Optimus’ and his cubs. He too was frustrated, could barely keep growling from creeping into his tone.

“Why?” blue optics were turned on him and he sat back, stopping his grooming. 

‘Why’

“I need you, your scent is... I do not know how to explain it. From the first whiff of your scent, the first visual of you, I have needed you. So badly that I could not keep from taking, could barely keep from taking _more_. In all my long vorn of life I have never been that ruled by my instincts... It was frightening," Megatron spoke honestly, forcing himself to cut right to the struts. His audio shells folded flat at the conflicting feelings, and the shame, yes shame, of having been that much ruled by things he should have had conquered long ago. Had had conquered until his olfactory sensors filled with the sweet intoxicating scent of the younger cyberlion.

"Maybe you are too honorable this time around," he looked down and found Optimus looking at him out the corner of one optic. A thoughtful and longing glance, that he almost thought he was reading wrong. But... what if he was not?

"Too honorable?" the smaller cyberlion shook his mane and looked away, almost stalling his spark's pulses as he thought he really had interpreted wrong.

"I am _afraid_ , Pride lord, terrified even, but not... unwilling," it was as good as saying he wanted to... Megatron could hardly blame him for being terrified, any cyberlion would be after what he had put the barely adult cyberlion though.

"I shall remember this," moving closer he resumed his grooming, after a long moment of tenseness the younger cyberlion relaxed and vented a long huff of too warm air. He still had a lot of work to do, but now at least he had a place to start!

As well as knowing that his advances would not be taken wrong come heat season, though they might still be feared. Still, a great relief indeed...

* * *

“Uhh...” Optimus turned over and wiggled, trying to get to that spot on his back _just_ there! He was full and warm, this orn was just perfect. 

Well, not perfect, perfect. He turned over again, restlessly looking to the remains of his prey, a small bronzeantilope, and then out over the wide expanse of dried up savanna beyond his cozy little oasis. Company would be nice right now... 

Tail swishing lazily he put his helmet down on his hands and huffed forlornly. He was all alone here, no one to groom or be groomed by. It really was a pity... of course he could go to the Pride, he was sure someone there would help him. 

Audio shells perking for a moment he lifted his helmet, as if he was about to rise, before putting it back down with a heavy huff.

No... no it would not do to go there. He did not really want to go there, all the wrong ones would be offering their attention and he might just get desperate enough to accept it. They were not his Pride, he knew that most from his Pride would simply help and then go on their way. He did not know these other cyberlions of Megatron’s Pride. 

Of course he did not want anyone from his Pride either... 

Rolling over again he stared up into the blue of the sky, restless and unhappy in the midst of being sated and sleepy happy. What a mess. It was not at all fun to feel this way, he really disliked being in heat... oddly though it had not felt this bad the other two times? Maybe it was because of Megatron, he had become increasingly pushy lately. Not that he had not invited him to, pretty much.

Why was he not here, now? it mattered that he was here now, he _should_ be here now! He was supposed to be here to lick his audio shells and... and maybe more. 

More would be good. 

Blue hands began to stroke over red chest plating, just light almost teasing. He just needed a little bit of relief, some sort of it at least and maybe... 

As his plating got hotter and his hands moved, slowly, lower the young cyberlion lost himself in the vicarious pleasure of his own touch. Not what he wanted, not even what he needed, but better than nothing at all. Soon enough he was ignoring his surroundings, dangerous as that was, too caught up in the needs of the heat to care about such a thing as safety. 

This time the heat really was not like his first two. 

“You look gorgeous like that,” the murmur was entirely too close, blue optics powered on in a flash, Optimus’ entire chassis jerking in an instinctive attempt to escape. Panic clashed with pleasure and he locked up, previous relaxation gone in a painful spasm. 

“Frag it, Megatron!” the curse just flew out, his processor stalling for a precious moment once it caught up with his vocals. 

“Is it now Megatron? After all the time I have spent on attempting to get you to moan my name I got it as a curse?” he did relax a little when it was laughter that danced in the red optics and not anger. Laughter was not alone though, and the feeling of heat and pleasure surged at the other thing that danced so enticingly in there. 

“Uh...” he could not manage more than that, but neither was it needed. The kiss was swift, even somewhat brutal and he felt how the larger cyberlion mech too burned. Heat inflaming them both, heating plating, driving need. 

Not that he cared, not truly at least, too busy nibbling at the thin dermas of the Pride lord. Too interested in the feelings rubbing against him inspired. Terror had little to no ped room in the middle of all of these interesting new, or half forgotten, feelings.

* * *

Perfect. 

It had taken him some time, and an insane amount of control, to come up with the plan of waiting till the younger cyberlion was near his heat peak to approach. Actually doing it had required more control than he had thought he had, especially when Optimus started to play with himself... Megatron felt that not even Primus or Unicron would have been able to keep back longer than he had.

But he had been right, there was no true panic in the lithe cyberlion mech. Only sweet, sweet surrender and perfect challenging kisses. And a lot of heavy, hot grinding that turned to one-sided frotting rather fast as the impatient little thing retracted his panel within the breem of their first kiss. Megatron was not at all displeased though, the scent of arousal, of readiness, one he had waited nearly three orn to taste. 

Between them it seemed like the very air was aflame, as if the crysgrass under them should be sizzling and crackling from the heat. He almost wished for such a physical manifestation, it might have helped in keeping his weakening control strong. 

“Megatron,” Optimus’ voice was heavy with longing and need, his movements uncoordinated and innocently inflaming. He groaned and let his panel slide back, there really was no point in fighting this, was there? It was what he wanted, and right now he had his desired mate all but begging for him. 

His hand followed the path the blue hands had been on not too long ago, down red chest plating to the royal blue apex of the long, strong legs. Down to the wetness of an eager valve... this he would do right! As little pain as he could manage, as many overloads as he could wring out of the younger mech. 

Sliding a claw inside the inviting heat earned him a lovely cry and eager undulations of the narrow hips. He was ready, even if he really was not ready at all. Much too tight to take Megatron’s girth easily, not to mention without pain. But that could be changed, and he would change it, beginning slow, pushing the claw further in and gently dragging it back out, teasing the little nubs in the pliant walls with its sharp tip. 

“I will make this wonderful for you,” reassuring himself as much as the one he was pleasuring he slid in a second claw, feeling how the walls gave way very reluctantly. It would be so wonderful to sink into this slick heat, so tight and ready. All the lubricant made him want to taste, lick... devour. Later, yes, later he would do that, but first he needed to claim, and it would take work.

Working his claws in and out, gently spreading them apart to loosen up the tight squeeze of the walls, Megatron claimed more kisses. When he finally felt the ripples of the first overload he had three claws inside the wet heat and hunger was raging in his spark. 

Forcing himself to wait he worked the younger cyberlion into another overload, making sure he could get four claws past the tight valve rim without causing pain. The seal would hurt either way, but he could make sure the stretch would not be so hurtful.

“Please,” it was a sob, one of need not of sadness or fear. It was like hearing music, the gasping plea from a voice he had spent vorn thinking he would never hear again. To have it be a plea of pleasure for more pleasure only made it so much better. Finally... finally his. 

“Shh... now, I promise, now,” he should have turned him around, mounted him. They were not in cyberlion form, and he did not want the young one to remember all the times where he had only taken and never given. He did not even want to remind him of the one time he had given him pleasure. Lifting the smaller frame up, he helped Optimus straddle his pelvic, guiding him to take his spike in and go slow. Slow... Primus... 

“Slowly, slow... Optimus!” the young cyberlion was not very enamored of that idea, but Megatron was larger and stronger, and he knew how to distract him. More kisses, touches to the small straining spike. And yet he still had to use brute strength to inhibit the eager young cyberlion’s movements.

But not for long, he too was eager to be as fully inside as their size would allow. When he felt the seal break, Optimus clung to him, only a sharp sound showing that he felt any pain. He tried to comfort and had to growl in shock when the smaller mech pushed down the minute he was not holding him back.

“Oh yes, P-Primus…” the whine that answered his growl was followed with the smaller helm nuzzling in to rest in the crook between his neck and shoulder armor. A small rough glossa licked over his neck cabling, sending skitters of awareness down his back struts in a way having the hot chassis in his arms, on his _spike_ did not. An offer of affection not necessary to the heat.

He moved then, relishing in the feeling of being, incredibly enough, fully sheathed in the smaller cyberlion. The feeling of the sensor bumps on his spike sliding against the slick walls and sensor bumps in the other’s valve. The pressure of the calipers tightening, spasming around his length despite being stretched so wide it had to be nearly too much.

A few moments later he could not hold out any longer, tossing his helmet back he roared as hot spurts of transfluid left his spike. It did not flow out of Optimus valve, and he knew that the seed to cubs had been started. He was even more pleased, however, with the strong ripples that milked his spike, telling him that the smaller cyberlion had come with him. 

Like the roar answering his own had not been clue enough.

He pulled out, still hard, but figuring that he should let the smaller mech have a rest. Optimus squirmed out of his hold entirely and turned to be on all fours, still in mech form. The aft presented to him made his spike twitch and get impossible harder. This was how a cyberlion claimed his mate, mounting him… taking the wet valve offered and riding it till there was nothing but pleasure and heat. 

It was more temptation that he could battle.

The surrounding savanna resounded with their roars as they came together again and again. Megatron all too eager to claim the young cyberlion in any way physically and mentally possible.

* * *

“Barricade, off!” the growl made the cub release his tail, but the predominantly black little dragged his paws as he rejoined his predominantly white twin. Megatron huffed; irritated that he was feeling a little guilty for reprimanding his young. It was harder to set boundaries with this litter than it had been with any of his previous ones. 

“Jazz, Barricade, Tailgate, go play with Bumblebee and Prowl,” Optimus came up, licking his Pride lord and mate under his jaw as they watched their litter tumble off to play with their favorite playmates. A young, big purple lion nodded to them, Galvatron still too young to take a mate or, more likely, go off to start a Pride of his own. 

“They are becoming a handful,” Megatron tilted his head a little, letting his mate sooth his irritation with the physical caress as well as the mental welling of love/care/amusement. 

“They are about to enter younglinghood, no longer cubs barely able to tumble about in the den,” a purr entered Optimus voice, “maybe it’s time we got to work on our next litter, Pride lord, after all… the first one turned out well,” Megatron snorted, but he was eager enough to trot after his mate when the smaller cyberlion turned away from the Pride home towards the open savanna… towards the oasis they still visited, rather often. 

“Run, Optimus,” his rumble received a laugh, a playful glance over a red shoulder and then the smaller cyberlion was off. He paused for a moment, looking back to the playing Pride cubs and then he shot off in pursuit. 

There was nothing wrong with practicing for the coming heat…

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collaboration piece with megop_murr_miay (LJ)/Murr-Miay (DA) 
> 
> Here is the awesome art [Lions](http://murr-miay.deviantart.com/art/Lions-347775675) and [Pride](http://murr-miay.deviantart.com/art/Pride-347776513)
> 
> Beta  
> AKzeal


End file.
